20-foot-tall jazz musician sculpture closer to completion in Florence

Two new shiny, 20-foot-tall musicians will soon join the giant aluminum “band” of statues being built in The Shoals. The latest additions will be a jazz musician to be erected in Florence and a Native American musician to be featured in Tuscumbia. The City of Florence approved the jazz musician design in 2018 but work has not begun on the statue, according to the Singing River Sculptures Facebook page.

The Florence and Tuscumbia statues will be added to the existing statues in Sheffield and Muscle Shoals. Eleven to 13 sculptures are planned for the area to celebrate its musical heritage. Remaining statues will be erected in a garden along the Tennessee River.

The project is named for a legend that the river is a musical muse. The area is home to the renowned recording studios, FAME and Muscle Shoals Sound, where dozens of famous musicians have recorded albums, including Cher, The Osmonds, Lynyrd Skynryd and the Rolling Stones.

The sculptures will be made of aluminum in a nod to the area’s history in aluminum manufacturing.

The Florence statue will also be 20 feet tall and will be created by Eric Nubbe. According to the Singing River Sculptures page, funding is in place for its creation and installation. The sculpture will be located downtown on Mitchell Boulevard, across from the Florence Police Department. Although the design does not depict a specific musician, its style and pose are reminiscent of a jazz musician playing a trumpet, a reference to W.C. Handy, known as the “Father of the Blues,” who was born in Florence. A festival is held in his honor each July.

The silver sculptures in Muscle Shoals and Sheffield, created by Tuscumbia sculptor Audwin McGee, are about 20-feet tall and made of recycled aluminum so they’re hard to miss, particularly on a sunny day. They both depict guitar players and look like rock or pop musicians. The Sheffield sculpture was erected in 2013 and the Muscle Shoals statue in 2015.